This invention relates to automatic plate making equipment, and more specifically relates to a novel high speed plate making system for producing a plurality of plates which can be used in a printing process, such as a newspaper printing process, from a single negative.
Daily newspapers are now converting to a printing process using a thin aluminum plate with a so-called "wipe on" coating or pre-sensitized coating in place of a letter press type arrangement. Most newspapers will run a large number of plates of the same page, thus requiring that a large number of plates be made from the same negative. The production of a large number of plates which are all appropriately aligned with a given negative has been a time-consuming process.
Numerous devices are known to make a plurality of plates from a single negative. Devices of this type are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,635,559, 3,810,694 and 3,922,087.
The present invention provides a novel automated process for making a large number of exactly aligned plates from a common negative at high speed while handling the plate on its non-image or back surface.